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Into the Depths

This quarter I have been taking a 3D Environment Design course. I was really excited for this class because I am generally more used to making individual models vs. entire scenes. This gave me a good opportunity to experiment with environment design, lighting, and composition. For my most recent project I wanted to create a cave that had a hint of magic but still felt real. I settled on a tiny chamber with glowing crystals and mushrooms. I also included explorer’s gear to give the sense of a dynamic story and water to make things less flat.

My favorite part of this scene is the fire. A lit torch (obscured by the rocks) lies on the ground and casts most of the light in the scene. Creating this fire gave me the opportunity to experiment with fluid effects for the first time (the fog in the tunnel is also created with fluids) as well as dynamic lighting and particle effects. In the end I think I did a good job capturing the feel of a real raging fire. Check it out in the video below: